


parellel

by dreamgorl



Category: South Park
Genre: Sorta sad, i'm bad at tagging things i apologize
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 15:16:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8213846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamgorl/pseuds/dreamgorl
Summary: two boys, the same place, always.





	

**Author's Note:**

> songs that inspired this fic:  
> benjamin francis leftwich - atlas hands [chill]  
> wildlife -stand in the water [significantly less chill]

"Come on, asshole!" Craig yelled over to one of his best friends, Tweek Tweak, from across Stark's pond. Tweek laughed and stumbled his way over through the tall grass and the marshy ground. "Hurry up!" Craig said again, and Tweek rolled his eyes. " _S-stop rushing me_!"

Tweek Tweak was 12 years old, and his best friend Craig Tucker was going to show him his favorite spot to stargaze. Tweek was very enamored with the idea -- he'd never paid much mind to stars, but with how Craig spoke about them, he was pretty excited to learn more. Craig was happy to have someone to share with.

"It's really close." Craig said when Tweek finally got there. Tweek exhaled heavily and they stood for a moment in the humid summer air. "Ready?" Craig said, and Tweek nodded. "Good."

Craig broke into a sprint into the forest, and Tweek followed suit. They ran through the bramble, shielding their faces with their arms and hopping over large rocks.

Occasionally Craig would hold a branch for Tweek so that he didn't get slapped in the face. Tweek was very appreciative of this gesture. The evening was still, and the only noises were their laughter and the chatter of the regular inhabitants of this forest.

They broke into a small clearing and Craig turned to Tweek, walking backwards, and held his arms out. "What do you think?" He asked, and Tweek looked around.

The sun was almost set, so the sky was a deep purpley shade. The trees were looming over them like shadowy skyscrapers but somehow it was more comforting than threatening, and the grass was thick and littered with small flowers. He felt a little breathless and he couldn't tell if it was because he had been running or if it was the beauty of this moment. He looked at Craig.

"T-this is so _amazing_." He said, awestruck, and Craig grinned.

Craig had brought a quilt that he had been gifted from his mom, as he had told Tweek. It was deep shades of blue, all intertwined, with silver twine looped into it. Tweek found it fascinating.

The two laid it on the ground and sat side-by-side, crisscross apple sauce, and stared at the rapidly darkening sky. Surrounding them was the smell of pine. The sound of a plane overhead startled them. "O-oh _god_. That could be a UFO." Tweek said, and Craig snickered. "W-what, you don't believe me?! I don't want to get abducted!" Suddenly, there was a pressure on Tweek's wrist. He yelped.  
  
Craig's hand was carefully holding Tweek's wrist, and they held eye contact for a moment.

"Tweek."

"W-what?"

"I won't let the aliens abduct you."

"P-promise?"

"Promise."

///

Tweek Tweak was 24 years old and absolutely disenchanted with his life. He often considered what possible outcomes there were for someone like him -- and none of them seemed very good at all.

It was a Tuesday -- he thought, anyway, but it wasn't like it mattered really. He just went to work at the grocery store. And his day fucking sucked, because nobody treats the employees like actual human beings. And after the third customer being pissed because he 'wasn't moving fast enough', he decided that if he was that bad at his job, why was he doing it? So he quit.

"Yeah, _n-no_ , sorry Barbara. There's no way I'm doing this for another three hours." He promptly exited the building. Sat in his car. And broke down.

His thoughts were as follows;  
_'I'm useless'_  
_'I'm pathetic'_  
_'I need to do something'_  
_'I need to go home'_

But where was home? He was trying to remember. It'd been so long since he was last in South Park, since he saw his parents. Since he saw anyone. He could hardly remember what it was like there. What it felt like. Why he left so abruptly. He thought of the people he had left, and he couldn't remember their faces but his heart felt a pang nonetheless.  
He calculated the time in his head -- two hours to South Park.  
So off he went.

///

He arrived at Stark's Pond at midnight. He wasn't sure why he was _there_ honestly, but he had seen the sign and suddenly felt that was where he needed to go. He followed where his feet took him -- through the forest, the bramble, and about a thousand times he wondered why?

Why was he going this way? Why was he doing this at all?

The thorns on the bramble cut his legs, and the rocks tripped him up more than a few times, and the branches hanging high above his head would gently pull at his hair. He wondered how many times he had tread this path as a child -- how he would have known exactly where to step, how to avoid the big rocks, and he wished it would come back to him.

It didn't.

He had memories -- following someone, staring at the back of their head and wishing they would turn around to look at him. Wanting to reach forward for them but not.

That weird longing feeling that he's always had, that's never gone away -- the reason he left?

Yes, that was it. That was the reason he left. The emptiness he felt here, in South Park, knowing he would never be able to have something he needed.

What was it?

He couldn't reach it in his mind, it had been tucked away. Somewhere it wouldn't keep him up at night. But he was startled out of the thoughts he was having when he suddenly felt one thing -- he was close.

It was close, wherever he was going. What he was experiencing all over again -- he only had that one instinct, and it was that he was almost there.

And he smelled pine, and saw petals of purple and blue dotting the grass. He bit his lip and looked up, and he saw a small opening in the trees. He broke into a sprint. He was stumbling over himself, trying to get to where he knew he needed to be, where he was always supposed to be.

He tripped forward as he reached the entrance, but caught himself, breathing heavily, as he stared at a vision. A memory of a person. Only they were really there.

" _Tweek_?" They said, and it was Craig, and Tweek felt like a child all over again. His heart almost beat out of his chest.

"C-Craig." He said, and burst into tears. Craig approached him slowly, cautiously as if he was some kind of fragile thing -- and wrapped his arms around him, and Tweek cried harder. "Where did you go?" Craig asked quietly, whispering it, and Tweek felt the question surround them, heavy in the thick air. He couldn't reply. His entire body was collapsing underneath him, the whole world was collapsing, and he couldn't seem to compose himself. He inhaled a shaky breath. Craig pulled back, and stared into Tweek's watery eyes.

"I missed you." 

"I-I missed you."

"Will you leave again?"

"N-no."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

**Author's Note:**

> ....listened to the song atlas hands. felt inspiration. read the lyrics. felt significantly more inspiration than before. thusly, this came to be. it might suck, i'm kinda bad at making judgments on things but you know. not even gonna lie, my brain is having the worst time making sense of anything rn and it's late but...thanks for reading ily. would like to hear what you think


End file.
